A promising drying activity of environmentally friendly oxovanadium(IV) complexes in air-drying paints

• Vanadium-based catalysts were established as alkyd driers.
• High drying activity of environmentally friendly compounds.
• Mechanism of drying process was studied by infrared and EPR spectroscopy.

Oxovanadium(IV) compounds, [VO(O,O-R1COCHCOR2)2] (R1 = R2 = Me; R1 = Me, R2 = Ph; R1 = R2 = Ph), were established as a new class of environmentally friendly primary driers for solvent-borne alkyd binder. The performed experiments clearly show that the catalytic activity of oxovanadium compounds is, in some terms, considerably higher than observed for commercial cobalt-based drier (Co-Nuodex). The detailed study of the drying process reveals several differences in mechanism of autoxidation. The enhanced activity at low concentrations together with very low overall toxicity imply the oxovanadium compounds as promising catalysts of autoxidation reactions implying a great perspective in paint-producing industry.

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